The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-20

and then, in letting them return send her soul |
into his body and his soul into hers. He, then,
would be, both in equipment of soul and body.
Oil man. She, then, would be, both In coup |
ment of soul and body, all woman. Each, then. |
in their own belief, would be better fitted for |
each other than they were as the Master OF Lille |
had made them.
"In my blind mad struggle for gold for my |
daughters, put aside the awful fact that it l
did this thing would break the great law
of the Master Of Life. which, broken. can have no
pardon. So / babe the woman and the man come
to me at once swearing to her to fulfill what
she required.
"While she was gone summoned the shadowy |
ones. beseeching them to aid now. Full OF
horror. the spirits Of light. forbidding what
asked, on my persistence forsook me. But the |
spirits of darkness promised me aid
"The man and woman came. put them in a |
deep and stirless sleep. and redeemed my pledge.
When they awakened their souls had undergone |
the change. Contented and happy they show
cred me with gold and departed gave the gold |
to my wife 1t was sufficient to keep her and |
her daughters century.
That night, when sought sleep, the Spirits |
| OF Light came. Because you have done this |
thing for love- they said, 1T will be forgiven you.
| Had you kept the smallest portion of what you |
| have gained by this disobedience. your name
| would be written in the Book of Eternal Sleep |
| But never again can you look upon the faces OF
those for whom you have broken this great law.
| You must go with US now. never to return again
| wearing flesh
| They took me with them to the summit of
| this great mountain. In its very summit is a
| cave where, some time, some hermit has dweit
1t was in this that the spirits left me, for
| bidding my ever going thence, except by their
| will"
Here the first parchment which had been
| cut by knife, abruptly ended. The second
one. written after lapse of fifty years, was in
| still frmer, clearer characters than the first
| jacques translated it as follows:
| at is now fifty years since the Spirits OF
Light brought me to this high Himalayan cave.
| l am now permitted TO add to the narration Of my
disobedience a brief account Of what has since
| befallen me. This am also to be permitted to
| seal in vase and leave it part way down the
| side OF my mountain prison, so that some one
| may find 1t and give to the world information as
to what has happened to me. The finder of this
| vase and parchments must proclaim what have
| written Doing or failing to do this will gain
| for him that which had invoked upon him for
| the performing or neglecting of something else.
regarding which l have decided otherwise, and
| the mention of which l have severed from the
| first parchment.
| MY life in this place is paralyzed by natural
| means. When first came here my years were
fifty; since then second fifty years have passed.
| and my age is now hundred years. Nor is the
end to come yet My present age may yet be
| doubled. This vast height has worked change
| IN me, nearly as great as the wrought
by me fifty years ago. which sent me here.
| Death is the wasting and exhausting Of vital
elements. To stop this waste would be to
overcome death TO retard this waste is to
height there is little waste exhaustion
| that my life may easily twice or thrice its
present length. When I first came here the
intense cold. thought. would soon prove fatal
But very soon that part of me which
was perceptive Of the cold passed out
| OF existence for me- Even the
sharp winds. which perpetually sweep this sum-
NIT do not ID fict upon any sensation of cold
ness discomfort Strangely enough it is
| impossible for me to live except at this extreme
height. 1 am now often permitted to 60 part
way down the mountain, but a sense of
suffocaton comes upon me and am forced to
| retrace nv steps.
THE kind of sustenance which keeps me in
life am not permitted to speak of.
MY interest in those love is still unchanged.
| and am permitted to know what comes to them
| though they have no knowledge Of me since the
shadowy ones brought me here. know nothing
Of their future or mine; that is hidden from me-
| only know the past, and that, since it has
brought so much Of good to my wife and
daughters, l would not change If could
And here the second parchment ended. The
others contained simple, unnterestrg notes
According to them this remarkable mans life
was, altogether prolonged to about three hun
dred years. at least. How much longer we could
not tell. OF course we could only judge by the
records. Every fifty years q new scrap Of parch-
ment was added to the vase-the last one about
seven hundred years before We found it.
The last scrap contained these Words my
family is gradually branching and increasing
Best of ALL my name is being kept from obliv-
ion. The world still remembers me. Ny vital
ity is now running low. Old age, which in the
lower world would have felt more than two
hundred years ago, is now coming upon me. 1t
is doubtful if l shall ever add another to
this record. Since two hundred years have
passed without this being discovered,
doubt if any will ever 6ndi it. If at last it is
. found and my name is still remembered, I leave
it to the finder to judge whether that which
| have written merits telling to the world which
once knew and honored me-"
1.-THE vase in which seal these parchments
1 A. - 11fkl
by the hermit who lived in this cave before me-
shall seal this and secure it in niche in
, rock in the mountain below me- where, some
{ day, it may arrest some human eye"
Jacques, when we had finished reading, was
, ! determined to make the ascent of the mountain
at all hazards, find the cave Of which the parch-
| ments told US, and see what we could find there.
? 1t required all the persuasion there was in Henri
and to dissuade Jacques from this purpose
{ | 1t daZed me. 1t was the first time in my
whole life that had regarded anything eravely.
| But the and the parchments subdued and
8 Quieted me. felt an lncomprehensible interest
Q / in the whole matter
: Henri took but view of the matter: to him
: the whole thing was hoax He said that the
e MYSTERIOUS disappearance of Ferahki, centuries
n ago, had induced some lover of sensation to per-
o petrate this thing imposition upon who
ever might run ACROSS the vase in the niche.
! To this, of course, Jacques would not listen.
g He was thoroughly convinced that the alleged
J. Ferahke parchments were genuine:
9 Because of the doubts entertained by Henri,
y Jacques decided that it would not be wise to
l. nounce our discovery. A few days afterward he
went to Calcutta, taking our treasures with US.
y The parchments we're shown privately to soma
n savants, who declared them genuine. Not until
o then were Henris doubts removed, and he ther
It declared that Ferahki was insane.
II After short stay in Calcutta, Henri anS
n Jacques returned to Paris. leaving me behind
IT for reasons of my own. The vase and parch
ments were also left with me- When they were
70 gone went to considerable trouble to obtain al
n accessible information concerning Ferahki o.
course there was nothing to be found which haG
" any bearing the spiritual contents of tn,
g. parchments. and scientists could not speak ad
L Al -eAi-~ - IL.